Earth moving apparatus



June 20, 1967 o. N. PECK, JR

EARTH MOVING APPARATUS Filed May 14, 1964 IN VEN TOR. BY 0m /Z yn wdzleet 3 W United States Patent O 3,325,924 EARTH MOVING APPARATUS Oiiver N. Peck, In, 2041 Pleasant Ave, Glenside, Pa. 19038 Filed May 14, 1964, Ser. No. 367,365 13 Claims. (Cl. 37-1175) This invention relates to earth moving apparatus, and more particularly to apparatus for converting a tractor shovel or front-end loader for use as a bulldozer.

Much of the earth moving apparatus now on the market is equipped with a shovel or scoop for picking up and moving large amounts of relatively loosely compacted earth or other materials from one place to another. This equipment is characterized by its ability to lift a load high into the air so that it can be conveniently piled or loaded into trucks, bins or the like. While equipment of the type described is quite suitable for the uses intended, the very nature of its construction renders it unsuitable for scraping, grading and other bulldozing operations.

First of all, the buckets used for scooping up loose materials are not suitable for the scraping, digging and grading operations performed by bulldozers. Secondly, these front end loaders are necessarily characterized by having lifting booms which are pivoted on points high on the tractor frame so that the bucket can be lifted high enough to clear the side of a dump truck or to facilitate piling the material. This form of linkage is not satisfactory for scraping hard packed materials. This is because the major component of the digging force transmitted to the bucket is necessarily applied at an angle to the horizontal axis of the tractor. As soon as the bucket encounters any resistance, the tractor tends to stall and its front end may even lift off the ground. With rubber tired tractors, the

problem is further compounded. When the tires sink in soft soil, the bucket cutting edge tends to dig in at an angle greater than with ordinary crawler types. For these reasons, contractors who use front-end loading equipment have generally found it necessary to also invest in bulldozers for digging, grading and like operations.

Although various attempts have been made in the past to provide a piece of equipment which is capable of both loading and bulldozing, known approaches have involved compromises between satisfactory front end loading and satisfactory bulldozing. One of the these approaches involves the direct attachment of a dozing blade on the front of the shovel of a loader. Another involves the use of a two-part bucket, the back of which functions as a bulldozer blade when the scoop portion is pivoted out of the way. Each of these arrangements has a number of drawbacks which the present invention seeks to overcome. One such drawback is the aforementioned problem of the angle of force transmission to the blade. Another is the inability of these blade attachments to tilt or to pivot for carrying out various types of grading and digging operations.

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of this invention to provide a shovel equipped tractor with an easily installed bulldozer blade attachment, so that the tractor may be used with equal facility as a loader or a bulldozer.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a bulldozing attachment for a loader which has none of the aforementioned drawbacks.

V Another object of this invention is the provision of a bulldozer blade attachment which permits side to side tilting of the blade.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide self-leveling apparatus for either a front-end loading bucket or a bulldozer blade, and which is alternatively adjustable to vary the angle of attack of the blade to meet practically any working conditions.

How these and other objects are achieved will appear more fully hereinafter in the following detailed description and in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a tractor modified in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the tractor shown in FIG- URE l; and

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view, diagrammatically showing the boom and linkage assembly used in carrying out the present invention.

Turning now to a detailed description of the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a crawler-type tractor 1, normally provided with a front end loading bucket or scoop 2 shown in phantom lines in the drawing. It should be understood that while the invention is illustrated in conjunction with a crawler tractor, it is suitable for use with practically any type of earth moving vehicle including both the wheeled and crawler tread types.

In the illustrative embodiment, bucket 2, which is shown in dashed lines in FIGURE 1, is attached to the tractor by means of a bucket control assembly generally designated at 3. This bucket control linkage or assembly is preferably of the self-leveling type, that is, it maintains the bucket in the same relative position'regardless of bucket height.

In the embodiment disclosed herein, the assembly takes the form of a parallelogram linkage and includes a bucket boom assembly which preferably takes the form of a pair of lifting booms or links 12 mounted on each side of the tractor and a pair of bucket pivot linkage means 13. The bucket lifting booms 12 are pivoted on the tractor frame by suitable pins or other pivotal mounting means 14 and at their opposite ends they are pivotally secured to arms 15 extending rearwardly from the bucket by any suitable means such as a laterally extending shaft 14a. The bucket pivot linkage means 13 comprises a manual control organ including conjointly operated double acting hydraulic dump cylinders 16 which are mounted on bars 1 pivoted in aligned relationship on each side of the frame of tractor 1 by pivotal mounting pins 18. The piston rod 19 of each dump cylinder 16 is secured to arms 20 of the bucket 3 by any suitable means such as, for example, a transveresely extending shaft 21.

It should be understood that in the preferred form of the invention, shafts 14a and 21 are adapted to be readily removable so that the bucket may be removed when the tractor is used as a bulldozer. For this reason, FIG- URES l-3 show the blade attachment and the elements common to operation of both blades and bucket in full lines. The bucket is shown in phantom to indicate that it may be dispensed with when the blade is in place. The linkages 12 and 13 of each pair are normally of the same effective length and pivot pinsl4 and 18 are mounted on the tractor frame in a vertical plane parallel to a plane passing through shafts 14a and 21. Thus, the linkage pairs form side-by-side parallelograms which maintain the bucket in the same vertical orientation as it is raised and lowered. At this point it should also be noted that on certain types of equipment the self-leveling linkage may be modified somewhat; for example, on some wheeled-type tractors, the linkage might take the form of a single parallelogram mounted at a point along the centerline of the tractor instead of the form of paired linkages as illustrated in the drawings. p

On other types of tractors, the linkage may be modified in other ways, and may even include hydraulic or electrical leveling means, however the preferred arrangement shown herein is simple and effective and adaptable to most tractors now on the market.

In order to raise and lower the bucket 2, double acting hydraulic boom cylinders 22 are pivotally mounted on each side of the tractor frame in the illustrative embodi- 3 ment. The boom cylinder piston rods are each connected to lifting booms 12. Boom cylinders 22 are conventional in form and are effective to move the bucket 2 between a point slightly below gorund level and the position shown in phantom lines in FIGURE 1. The bucket is tilted by supplying pressure to the hydraulic dump cylinder 13 which causes pivotal movement of the shovel about shaft 14a.

To adapt the front end loader for use as a bulldozer, I provide a novel bulldozer blade assembly which includes a blade 23 mounted on the front of the tractor. A blade boom assembly includes blade pushing booms 24, pivotally mounted on rearwardly extending brackets on the blade by any suitable means such as pins 25 and which pass through holes in extensions 26 welded or bolted to the rear of the blade. The booms 24 are attached to each side of the tractor by means of pins 27 which may be passed through selected ones of a series of holes 28 and 29 on the booms and on tractor frame. The booms may be alternatively mounted :between the tractor treads or tires and the frame and could even be a single boom in certain situations. For normal operation of the tractor as a bulldozer, the booms 24 are pivoted at points in vertical alignment with pivot pins 14 and the effective working length of the booms 24 is identical with that of the lifting links 12.

The booms are mounted on the frame at a point where they will be in substantial alignment with the horizontal at a point near ground level. Blade 23 is interconnected with the bucket lifting boom assembly :by means of a plate 30 pivotally mounted on the blade by any suitable means such as a pin 31. Plate 30 has a pair of rearwardly turned extensions 32 and these extensions 32 are provided with holes 33 which receive the shaft 14a which interconnects the lifting booms 12. The extensions 32 are preferably provided with additional sets of openings 34 so that the distance between the shaft 14a and the pivot points 25 may be varied. For normal purposes this distance will be equal to the distance between frame pivots 14 and 27 so that a second self-leveling linkage of the parallelogram type is formed to maintain the blade in a vertical plane regardless of its height. However, depending upon the type of soil encountered or the preference of the operator, the angle of attack, sometimes called the blade pivot, may be controlled by changing this distance or the effective working length of the booms 24.

With the mechanism so far described, it may be seen that means are provided for lifting and pivoting either the bucket 12 or the blade 28. The mechanism for controlling the tilt of the blade 23 about the pivot point 31 will now be described with special reference to FIGURE 3 of the drawings. In order to accomplish this end, I use an eccentric rocking mechanism preferably consisting of a pair of links or bellcranks 35 which are attached to the shafts 14a and 21 at points in vertical alignment with each other. These links may be permanently mounted on the shafts or in the alternative may be attached when mounting the bulldozer blade. The links preferably take the shape of bellcranks and in the illustrative embodiment, the base of each link lies in a common plane but on the opposite side of the vertical plane passing through the openings for the shafts 14a and 21. A pair of connecting rods 36 are pivotally mounted on these links at points along the base. equidistant from the common plane and each of these connecting rods is pivotally connected with openings 37 on suitable extensions 38 mounted on the rear surfaceof :blade 23. Additional openings 37 are provided on the blade extensions 38 so that the distance between shaft 14a and the pivot pins 25 can be varied.

With the arrangement just described, conjoint forward movement of both dump cylinder piston rods 19 causes clockwise rocking movement of the tilt links 35 about the axis of shaft 14a. The blade 23 tilts in a counterclockwise direction about the point 27, since the right hand connecting rod 32 pulls up on the right side of the blade while the left hand ro-d pushes downwardly, as viewed in FIGURE 2. Rearward or reactive movement of the dump cylinder piston rod causes counterclockwise tilting of the links 35 and clockwise tilting of the blade.

If desired, provision may be made to adjustably angle the blade from side-to-side. This could be done for, example by making the pusher booms 24 extendable as by making them telescoping members, and by providing the necessary means such as turnbuckles or additional openings 37 to vary the length of rods 36. This modification would not, however, alter the basic operating characteristics of the invention as described above.

In summary, the invention described can be readily adapted to practically any tractor-type loader whether equipped with a :bucket leveling mechanism or not. Although the term front-end loader has been used herein, it will be understood that the invention is also capable of use on certain equipment having a rear mounted bucket. The blade attachment can be easily mounted on the tractor with a minimum of time and extra parts. Raising, lowering and tilting of either bucket 3 or blade 23 is possible, depending upon the operation to be performed and the soil conditions. Since driving force is transmitted to the blade through the booms 24 from a point low on the tractor frame, digging and scraping to a degree not heretofore permitted by prior art bulldozer attachments is possible.

If theoperator desires to vary the angle of the blade with respect to the horizontal, this-can be accomplished by pivoting theblade booms 24 at different points on the tractor frame by using different pairs of openings 28 and 29. In like manner, the operating characteristics of the blade lifting linkage can be varied by changing the distance between pivot point 33 and the shaft 25.by pivoting the boom 12 in another pair of the openings 34. It should also be noted that when operating the tractor as a bulldozer, bucket 2 may be left in place if desired. In this case, the bellcranks 35 could be welded to the rear of the bucket. However, removal of the bucket is a relatively simple matter and in most instances will be preferred for the sake of increased visibility.

I claim: 1. Apparatus for use in combination with a tractor having an earth moving bucket, comprising:

a bucket boom assembly for raising and lowering said bucket including bucket lifting linkage means;

control means movable in a plane extending substantially longitudinally of the tractor for dumping said bucket;

an alternatively attachable bulldozer blade;

a blade boom assembly including blade pusher boom means and said bucket lifting linkage means;

said blade boom means mounting said blade on said tractor;

and linkage means interconnecting said control means and said blade and controlled by said control means for effecting side-to-side tilting of said blade with respect to said tractor.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said bucket boom assembly includes means for maintaining the angular orientation of the bucket with respect to the tractor during raising and lowering of the bucket.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, said blade pushing booms lying in a plane adjacent to ground level.

4. An earth moving machine comprising in combination with a tractor, a front end loader bucket having a boom assembly, a connection pivotally mounting the bucket on the boom assembly, a pivotal connection mounting the boom assembly on the tractor at an elevation well above ground level, a bulldozer blade having a boom, a separable pivotal boom connection removably mounting the blade boom on the tractor at an elevation below said first elevation and close to ground level, and mechanism for controlling the angular position of the bucket and blade with relation to their respective booms including a single manual control organ, power means movable in a plane extending longitudinally of said tractor, said power means being selectively movable back and forth in said plane between limits of travel upon operation of said control organ, and separate linkage means adapted respectively to interconnect the power means with the bucket and blade, said separate linkage means effect-ing angular movement of said bucket and blade respectively, upon movement of said power means between its limits of travel.

5. A machine according to claim 4 and further including a readily separable connection between the bucket and its boom.

6. Apparatus for use in combination with a tractor having an earth moving bucket, comprising;

a control boom assembly including bucket lifting linkage means and bucket dumping linkage means;

first and second frame pivot means for pivotally mounting each of said linkage means on the frame of said tractor, said pivotal mounting means being in spaced vertical alignment with each other; the free ends of each of said linkage means being pivotally interconnected with said bucket, said pivotal interconnections being in a plane parallel to the plane of said frame pivot means;

first pressure means for varying the efiective length of one of said linkage means;

a second pressure means for pivoting each of said linkage means about said frame pivot means to raise and lower said bucket;

an alternatively attachable dozer blade assembly including a blade, third frame pivot means, pushing boom means pivotally mounted on said blade and to the frame of said tractor by said third frame pivot means, said third frame pivot means being at a point below and in vertical alignment with said first and second frame pivot means;

said boom having an effective length equal to the normal effective length of said bucket lifting linkage means;

a mounting plate for interconnecting said bucket lifting linkage means with said blade, said plate being pivotally interconnected with said blade, thereby permitting side-to-side tilting movement of the blade;

a pair of blade tilting links including triangularly oriented pivotal mounting means on each of said links;

said lifting linkage means and said dumping linkage means pivotally connectible to said blade tilting links at points lying in a vertically oriented plane;

a pair of connecting rods freely mounted on said triangular links at points in a plane normal to said vertical plane, said mounting points being equally spaced from and on opposite sides of said vertical plane; and

means connecting the opposite ends of said connecting rods to said blade at points equilaterally spaced from the centerline of said blade.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said lifting and dumping linkage means are mounted in pairs on opposite sides of the tractor frame.

8. Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein said pushing boom means includes a pair of laterally spaced booms pivotally mounted on each side of said tractor and said blade.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 including means for varying the effective length of each of said booms.

10. Apparatus according to claim 6 including means to vary the effective length of said blade booms.

11. Apparatus according to claim 6 including means for vary-ing the effective length of said mounting plate and said connecting rods.

12. An earth moving machine comprising in combination with a tractor;

a first boom assembly and a connection pivotally mounting the boom assembly on the tractor at an elevation well above ground level;

a bulldozer blade having a boom assembly and a separable pivotal boom connection removably mounting the blade boom assembly on the tractor at an elevation below said first elevation close to ground level;

said first boom assembly and said blade boom assembly forming a blade leveling mechanism;

means mounting the blade for pivotal movement about an axis extending longitudinally of the tractor;

mechanism for controlling the pivotal position of the blade including a control member movable in a plane extending substantially longitudinally of the tractor and connecting means pivotally mounted on a trans verse axis with respect to said tractor; connecting rods each mounted at one end on said connecting means on opposite sides of said transverse axis and at their opposite ends on said blade on opposite sides of said blade pivot point; said control member connected to said connecting means to controllably effect pivotal movement thereof and tilting movement of the blade.

13. An earth moving machine comprising, in combination with a tractor, a front end loader bucket having a boom and a connection pivotally mounting the bucket on the boom on an axis extending transversely of the tractor, a pivotal connection mounting the boom on the tractor at an elevation well above ground level, a bulldozer blade having a boom and a separable pivotal boom connection removably mounting the blade boom on the tractor at an elevation below said first elevation and close to ground level, means mounting the blade for pivotal movement about an axis extending longitudinally of the tractor, and mechanism for controlling the pivotal position of the bucket and blade including a single manual control organ and separate connecting means adapted respectively to interconnect the control organ with the bucket and blade, said controlling mechanism including a control member movable in a plane extending longitudinally of the tractor, said connecting means including connecting mechanism for converting the movement of the control member into pivotal movement of the blade about said longitudinal axis.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,173,158 9/1939 Corbett 37144 2,274,904 3/ 1942 Lawler 37144 2,565,337 8/1951 Allan 37144 2,749,630 6/1956 Nave 37144 2,878,598 3/1959 Pilch 37-117.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 570,613 2/1959 Canada.

1,258,415 3/1961 France.

ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

R. L. HOLLISTER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR USE IN COMBINATION WITH A TRACTOR HAVING AN EARTH MOVING BUCKET, COMPRISING: A BUCKET BOOM ASSEMBLY FOR RAISING AND LOWERING SAID A BUCKET INCLUDING BUCKET LIFTING LINKAGE MEANS; CONTROL MEANS MOVABLE IN A PLANE EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY LONGITUDINALLY OF THE TRACTOR FOR DUMPING SAID BUCKET; AN ALTERNATIVELY ATTACHABLE BULLDOZER BLADE; A BLADE BOOM ASSEMBLY INCLUDING BLADE PUSHER BOOM MEANS AND SAID BUCKET LINKAGE MEANS; SAID BLADE BOOM MEANS MOUNTING SAID BLADE ON SAID TRACTOR; AND LINKAGE MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID CONTROL MEANS AND SAID BLADE AND CONTROLLED BY SAID CONTROL MEANS FOR EFFECTING SIDE-TO-SIDE TILTING OF SAID BLADE WITH RESPECT TO SAID TRACTOR. 